The most known and most used parallel shaft drives are the so-called nose-suspended drive and the so-called frame drive. In the case of the first one, the electric motor is supported at one end by means of at least one correspondingly designed arm on the driving axle driven thereby through a gear drive arrangement, while it is connected at the other end to the vehicle or bogie frame. Thus, the motor and the gear arrangement belong only in part to the spring-loaded masses. In the case of the so-called frame drive, the motor is fixedly connected to the vehicle or bogie frame and thus is part of the spring-loaded part of the vehicle. For this reason the interpositioning of an all around movable coupling is needed between the motor and the driving axle.
Both drive systems have certain disadvantages. In the case of the nose-suspended drive, it is the support on the driving axle which presents problems in servicing and during a removal of the driving axle. In the case of the frame drive, it is the coupling that is considered to be disadvantageous because of both the need for space and also because of the plurality of individual parts which have a partly complicated form.
In order to avoid the known disadvantages of the conventional parallel shaft drive, drives have been developed lately which have the following structure: The motor is secured at the back thereof to the gear housing supported on the driving axle through roller bearings. The bearings can thereby be positioned either directly on the shaft or, however, on the lateral hubs of the driven gear fixedly connected to the drive shaft. Both the end of the gear arrangement, which is opposite the drive shaft, and also the free end of the motor are connected to the vehicle or bogie frame. It is obvious that in this arrangement provisions must be made in order to permit a limited amount of relative movement between the gear arrangement and the motor.
Therefore the basic purpose of the invention is to develop a parallel shaft drive of the above-described type, in which the connection between the electric motor and the gear arrangement can absorb large forces, which for example stem from the weight of the motor (radially acting) and from the torque (acting in the peripheral direction), however, at the same time permits with simple means angular deflections between these two aggregates while remaining substantially rigid in axial direction or in peripheral direction.